Ted Sagar was an Everton legend, a league and cup winning goalkeeper, an England international, and the holder of the record amount of league appearances for the club for some forty years until it was broken by the Toffees other legendary keeper, Neville Southall. It is quite the impressive CV. Sagar’s Everton career ultimately lasted for an amazing 24 years but as time comes for all of us, with Ted approaching his late 30s the Everton manager Cliff Britton was on the lookout for a replacement for his veteran custodian. His eventual long-term successor, a man who would make over 200 appearances in more than ten years at the club was discovered in the most unusual of places, the south Dublin suburbs playing for “Bulfin United under 17s, Division 2.”
This young man was Jimmy O’Neill, as well as over a decade of service with Everton he enjoyed a successful spell at Stoke City where he was hugely popular and would win 17 caps for the Republic of Ireland. At just 5’9″ and willowy thin he didn’t conform to the stereotypical physique of the goalkeeper. This is the story about how his journey from the schoolboy leagues of Dublin to the Everton first team in the course of just over a year was facilitated through an unusual source, a League of Ireland club official and Dublin shopkeeper who had also been a revolutionary from his teens, was imprisioned during the War of Independence and had remained an active member of the IRA during and well after, the Civil War. It is the story of Michael Douglas.
Michael Douglas was born in Dublin’s North Inner City in 1901, growing up on Stafford Street (now Wolfe Tone Street) and later on Granby Place, his parents, James and Lizzie were both born Dubliners, James beginning a family tradition of working for the City Council, his job being a paver. By 1917 young Michael was a member of Na Fianna Éireann, the Republican boy scout movement, where he was later joined by his younger brother Willie, both are pictured below. Also, by this stage the teenage Michael had followed his father into employment with the City Council.
By the end of 1917 Michael had become a fully fledged member of “G company” of the Dublin Brigade of the IRA, parading with them at the enormous public funeral of Thomas Ashe, a 1916 veteran who had died in Mountjoy prison after being force-fed while on hunger strike. Later during the War of Independence Michael continued to parade and provide guard duty at various functions while also being involved in well known raids including the one on Monk’s Bakery, North King Street which left three British soldiers dead but also resulted in the capture, and later execution of Kevin Barry. In another footballing connection with that incident, one of the other members of the Dublin Brigade involved was Christy Robinson who would later represent Bohemian FC and travel to the 1924 Olympics with Ireland.
By 20th November 1920 (a day before Bloody Sunday) Michael had been arrested as part of a wide crackdown by Crown Forces, he was found with Sinn Féin literature in the family home in Granby Place and was sent by steamer to Ballykinlar internment camp in Co. Down. Michael stated that the Crown Forces had not found any weapons in the raid but claimed that £29 (a considerable sum at the time) had been taken from his father’s house during the raid.
Ballykinlar was a former army base turned into an internment camp and which grew to bursting point by the end of 1920 as raids and arrests escalated in November and December of that year. There were upwards of 2,000 men interned from all across Ireland at its peak. Many were active in the Independence struggle, others were unlucky, not actively involved perhaps merely sympathetic to the Republican cause but arrested all the same as part of sweeps by Crown Forces.
While interned in Ballykinlar in July 1921, Michael’s sister Kate was injured in an altercation with Crown Forces around Dominick Street in the north inner city. On two occasions Crown Forces removed an Irish tricolour from the street where it had been strung between houses, on the first occasion a group of local women managed to wrestle the flag back and restring it across the street, however the Military patrol returned later that night to successfully remove the flag and Kate was injured by a revolver bullet as the local women harassed and jeered the soldiers from the street.
Michael requested leave to visit his injured sister, however as a truce was called shortly afterwards gradually the prisoners of Ballykinlar were released. It is around this time after his release that Michael seems to have taken a more keen interest in football and his own letters identifies the early 1920s as around the time he became involved with Shelbourne FC.
Michael’s interest in the national movement did not end after his release however, he remained actively involved, briefly being part of the group of anti-Treaty IRA who were occupying the Four Courts in 1922 just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Michael remained on the anti-Treaty side after the official outbreak of hostilities and was arrested by the Free State forces in November 1922, although he was released a month later. Michael remained inactive as the final months of the Civil War ground on although he did return to IRA activity in 1924 after the effective end of the Civil War and the issuing the of the “Dump arms order” in May 1923.
Perhaps the most significant incident in this period of his involvement was the bombing, in November 1928 of the equestrian statue of King William of Orange on College Green. It had been “first erected in 1701 to commemorate William’s victory over King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690″, the statue was always controversial, some felt that even Trinity College was being disrespected as Billy’s horse, White Sorrel, was positioned so its arse faced the University. Even by the end of the 18th Century the statue had been subjected to vandalism, and later in the 19th Century suffered from significant neglect and poor maintenance from an apathetic City Council.
On Armistice Day, 11th November 1928 in the early hours of the morning the statue was attacked yet again, it was blown up by the IRA. John Dorney explains the significance of the event as follows:
It was a part of a campaign by republicans, casting about for ways to remain relevant following their defeat in the 1922-23 Civil War, against Armistice Day in Dublin in which the Union flag was flown and ‘God Save the King’ sung by war veterans and unionists. On the same day, another bomb was placed at the statue of King George on Stephen’s Green. Rioting also took place between republicans and Poppy wearers in the city centre.
John Dorney, the Irish Story
Such was the damage to the statue that it was ultimately removed permanently by the City Council the following year. Among those responsible for the destruction of the statue was Michael Douglas, working under the supervision of former IRA Quartermaster and explosives expert Paddy Saunders. It is noted in the reports at the time that despite the blast taking place around 5am, with thankfully no injuries to anyone other than the leaden William, there were members of An Garda Síochána nearby who gave chase to those responsible for the bombing, they were chased up Trinity Street before a number of shots were fired at their pursuers. Interestingly in Michael’s military pension application the mention of Saunders (written as Sanders) is crossed out. Possibly because at the time of Michael’s application in the late 1930s Paddy Saunders had joined the ranks of An Garda Síochána himself!
By the 1930s Michael was married to Mary O’Neil and living in Little Ship Street with a growing family, right by the walls of Dublin Castle where he ran a small shop. He was also being referenced as a promintent member of Shelbourne Football Club, appearing in newspaper clippings representing the club at various functions, funerals etc. Moving forward a little later Michael is mentioned and photographed for the Shelbourne Golden Jubilee programme of 1945. Michael is mentioned as being a member of the Ways and Means committee of the club. The committee looked after matters such as the publication of the match programme, and the more social aspects of club life such as organising dances, events and fundraisers.
It is perhaps in this context that Michael encountered Jimmy O’Neill, in a series of correspondence beginning in January 1949 he contacted Cliff Britton the Everton manager to recommend the young goalkeeper to him. Perhaps O’Neill was a relative through his wife and known to him that way? Or perhaps he had gotten to know young Jimmy through his work for Shelbourne? Either way he decided to approach the Everton manager, Britton who had been a star player for the Toffees in the era of ‘Dixie’ Dean and was also capped nine times by England. After enjoying some success with Burnley as a manager in the post war years Everton appointed him as manager in 1948. Everton also had a number of prominent Irish players at this time including Tommy Eglington and Peter Farrell and enjoyed quite a bit of support in Dublin at the time.
First contacting Britton on 25th January 1949, Douglas wrote, apparently with no prior connection with Britton, in order to
“recommend to you a boy who is playing goalkeeper for a schoolboys’ team and he is certainly playing great. I know of two League of Ireland Clubs who are interested in him but he is not inclined to sign for either of them. He has informed me that if he got the chance he would like a trip across.
He is 17 years, 3 months old: height – 5′ 9″: weight – 10st. 10lbs.I should like to mention that I am officially connected with a League of Ireland Club for the past 27 years and, for this reason, whether you are interested or not, I should like you and your Dublin representative (Scout) to treat this matter as strictly confidential.”
Letter from Michael Douglas to Cliff Britton
Britton replied within two days, asking for more detail on O’Neill and where he could have him watched. Douglas replied the following day, recommending that Everton have O’Neill watched in Bulfin United’s upcoming cup match against a strong Home Farm team before signing off wishing Everton success in their own Cup tie against Chelsea, a fourth round FA Cup match that Everton lost 2-0.
Everton duly had O’Neill scouted by no less a figure than former Goodison and Ireland great Alex Stevenson and in May 1949 Everton completed the signing of Jimmy O’Neill for the princely sum of £100 from Bulfin United. As for Michael he continued in conversation with Everton and recommended they scout Mortimer “Murty” Broderick, then plying his trade in the League of Ireland for Cork Athletic. He also had to chase Everton for a payment promised arising out the transfer of O’Neill. Eventually in October 1949, five months after signing Jimmy O’Neill, Everton paid Michael Douglas £5 for his part in recommending the club’s new goalkeeper.
Below you can see the fee of £100 paid for O’Neill (left) while on the right the £5 earmarked for Michael Douglas. Both taken from the excellent Everton Collection website
Everton never did sign Murty Broderick although they had played a friendly against Cork Athletic in 1949 and perhaps were not sufficiently impressed, Broderick would later join Sheffield United in 1950 and I can find no further contact or mention of Michael Douglas in club minute books after the signing of Jimmy O’Neill.
Writing an obituary for Jimmy O’Neill in 2007, The Independent’s Ivan Ponting described him as “the sort of goalkeeper that football fans love to watch. Whether plunging acrobatically to repel shots on his line or springing skywards to pluck crosses from the heads of rampaging centre-forwards, the slim, almost willowy Republic of Ireland international was a natural crowd-pleaser.”
He won 17 caps for Ireland playing in World Cup qualifiers and Ireland’s first ever games in European Championship qualification, a popular figure for both Everton and Stoke City but without the personal intervention of Michael Douglas he may never have reached those football pinacles. His almost 20 year professional football career owes a debt to the man who blew King Billy of his horse in College Green.
With a special thank you to the Fox and Carroll families for sharing Michael’s story and to Sam McGrath for assistance in the research of Michael Douglas’ and Paddy Saunders pension files.
A Bohemian Sporting Life 